Personal Care Services Get Green Light to Reopen in Pasadena: Capacity Cap Lifted for Hair, Nail Salons

Pasadena personal care services such as tattoo and body art shops, massage therapists, esthetician services, electrology services, skin care service and estheticians received the OK to reopen indoors Friday, with safety precautions in place, as a 25% capacity cap on barbershops, hair salons and nail salons was lifted, officials said.

Most personal services were not allowed indoors or at all by the city’s Public Health Order until it was modified on Friday, when they were cleared to resume business, “subject to all applicable health protocols,” according to the revised order. The policy is in line with the state’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” officials said.

Esthetic and Skin Care Services had previously been allowed to resume operations, but only indoors.

Barbershops, hair salons and nail salons had been allowed to reopen last month, with precautions in place, but only to a maximum of 25% capacity. But the new order permits them to conduct business, “at capacity,” with precautions in place. The required precautions, however, include measures such as maintaining social distancing, spacing out appointments, not allowing waiting on-site and sanitizing equipment between patrons, which will prevent crowds from forming, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderiain said.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health made similar revisions to its own health order on Friday, as well. The county order also allowed for the reopening of outdoor activities at mini-golf courses, batting cages and go-kart tracks.

Pasadena reported 25 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, but said a “significant” number of the tally did not represent newly-discovered cases, but rather a backlog of older ones.

The city saw no new fatalities. Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 2,746 infections have been recorded, along with 129 deaths, according to city data. The last death was reported on Oct. 8.

Officials also listed 60 total “probable” COVID-19 infections, which indicated people had tested positive through less-reliable antigen tests, but the diagnosis was not confirmed by more reliable “molecular” tests.

With the Dodgers playing in the World Series ongoing all weekend, Derderian reminded the public to pay attention to social distancing and avoid gatherings.

The L.A. County Department of Public Health reported 2,773 new infections and 23 additional deaths on Friday.

But county officials also said the day’s tally of new COVID-19 cases was inflated by a prior backlog.

The L.A. County Department of Public Health had recorded a total of 296,821 infections and 6,974 fatalities since pandemic began in March.

Just under 770 patients were hospitalized with the virus, the agency said in a written statement. Twenty-nine percent of them were in intensive care units.

“The number of daily hospitalizations has remained stable and under 800 daily hospitalizations since mid-September,” the statement added.

L.A. County Director of Public Health also implored the public not to attend or hold gatherings during the World Series.

“As we root for our teams this weekend, let’s do our best to not transmit or become infected with COVID-19. The safest way to celebrate your team is to do so in the comfort of your home with your household or participating in a virtual watch party,” she said.

“If you do decide to leave your home, remember to avoid indoor gatherings, confined spaces, and crowds, as each of these situations carries high risk for the spread of COVID-19,” Ferrer said. “Players and staff have taken extraordinary measures to avoid virus transmission; we can follow their examples as we cheer them on to victory.”

State health officials announced 6,141 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, but added that 2,000 of them were backlogged cases out of L.A. County.

With 73 new deaths reported, the statewide totals had reached 886,865 total infections and 17,262 fatalities, according to the California Department of Public Health.

As of Friday, L.A. County represented 33% of California’s total COVID-19 infections and 40% of the state’s deaths.